Hosted cloud computing is becoming an increasingly hot market. Amazon Web Services (AWS), which recently launched a major Indian initiative in Alibaba’s backyard, maintains a dominant position. Oracle has released a slew of more than 24 new additions to the Oracle Cloud Platform.

Also Google is entering a new partnership that will base the next generation of JDA Software Group of cloud-based omnichannel and supply chain solutions on the public Google Cloud Platform.

"...We’re really marrying up purchase behavior within the stores, purchase behavior in the digital channels and other external information to put together more relevant assortments. It’s a great partnership between our merchants and our e-commerce business to bring it to life."

The dawn of cloud-based retail as a service (RaaS) platforms, such as Oracle’s new suite of Oracle Retail cloud services, enables retailers to use the cloud to manage everything from inventory and e-commerce to customer engagement and order fulfillment.

With the addition of Oracle Retail Insights and Oracle Retail Science, Oracle is now a "one-stop cloud shop"; with 17 different software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud offerings available for large and mid-size retailers, explained David Dorf, Senior Director of Solutions Management in an exclusive interview with Retail TouchPoints.

..."The SaaS offerings are much more affordable for mid-tier retailers, in part because they are paying for what they use," Dorf noted. "We are now able to avail cloud science to smaller retailers."

Oracle is focusing squarely on retail agility with the latest additions to its comprehensive set of retail cloud solutions.

...“Retailers can react to the market a lot faster,” said David Dorf, senior director of product strategy at Oracle Retail, during a phone briefing with Chain Store Age. “Retailers do not have to focus on mundane IT tasks, but the retail business itself. They can also obtain access to more features and functions faster, with automatic upgrades in the cloud.”

Days ahead of its planned breakup, eBay Inc. suffered a blow in its effort to sell its eBay Enterprise unit, as one of the division’s biggest customers said it would move much of its business elsewhere.

Toys said it will be using Oracle ATG e-commerce software to build its new Web platform.

The decision "tells me they're looking to increase the percentage of business they do online," said Paula Rosenblum,managing partner at RSR Research, a research and consulting firm that specializes in retail technology. GSI, and now eBay Enterprises, typically don't handle operations for the largest retailers, she said.

Rosenblum said she is surprised Toys hadn't moved in this direction already. "Given that they've been under attack by Amazon and WalMart both, you would think they would have done this sooner," she said.

The retail chain will build a new online retail platform using software from Oracle after years of outsourcing web sales to GSI Commerce, now eBay Enterprise. It's the latest in a series of retail chains taking control of their own e-commerce destiny.

Retailer's implementation establishes foundation for sustainable growth across Nordstrom full line and Rack stores in North America

Redwood Shores, Calif.-Apr 6, 2015 Leading fashion specialty retailer Nordstrom has implemented new Oracle Retail Merchandise Operations Management and Oracle Retail Store Inventory Management solutions to support its expansion in Canada. The retailer plans to roll out the latest releases of these Oracle Retail solutions companywide to support its Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack stores.
"Oracle is a valued partner to our business," said Bill Tucker, vice president of Technology, Nordstrom. "Oracle's retail industry solutions help to ensure that our technology investment evolves with our business to support our growth strategy and help us meet the changing expectations of our customers."

On the back end, there is another large implementation – the company’s core trading platform will be the Oracle Retail Suite, which will include sub-products Retail Merchandising System, Retail Sales Audit and RPM for database monitoring.

“[With the Oracle systems] it’s all about controls, stability, joining up – the usual things. We’ve got lots of heritage systems. So the idea is to get a back end that’s solid, secure, reliable and less complex than other technologies we currently have,” says Haywood.

Amazon just obtained a new competitor for its Amazon Web Services cloud hosting and development platform. Oracle is going head-to-head with Amazon with a slew of more than 24 new additions to the Oracle Cloud Platform.

Oracle says it offers the same products, with 100% compatibility, in the cloud and on premises, which means that companies can move to and from the cloud without changing applications. Furthermore, workloads can be moved to the cloud instantly.

“Oracle is growing really fast,” said Larry Ellison, CTO of Oracle, in public remarks. “Oracle is the only company on the planet that can deliver a complete, integrated, standards-based suite of services at every layer of the cloud. Those technology advantages enable us to be much more cost-effective than our competitors. Our new Archive Storage service goes head-to-head with Amazon Glacier and it’s one-tenth their price.”

Almost two years after an intensive e-commerce upgrade, Ulta Beauty is making steady progress toward its goal of reaching 10% of total sales via the Internet — a major milestone in the cosmetics segment.